


16. Thanks

by rockbrigade



Series: DaBa 30 Theme [7]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 04:53:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6738889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rockbrigade/pseuds/rockbrigade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>These days it seems like Haru-chan is changing. When they're caught in a storm together, Hikaru thinks maybe he might want to change, too, but they're both frustrated by how inarticle-- inartcitic-- intarctic-- how hard it is to talk about how they're feeling. Sometimes the only thing you really can say is "Thanks" </p>
<p>(Not exactly "DaviBane" since this is a "I'm starting to notice my crush on you" situation, but there's enough there to make their relationship central.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	16. Thanks

Hikaru stood on his tip toes and craned his neck. Haru's door was open, but he couldn't see anyone in the cool dark of the hallway. He squinted and placed his hand, with sternly stiffened fingers, over his eyebrows, the way they do in the movies. He pretended to try and spot Godzilla in Haru's house, but it was no good. He saw nobody. He placed his foot on the step and leaned into the entrance. He tried to summon his voice, but all he managed was a small, "Haru-chan?" which was quickly eaten by the silence around him. He bobbed up and down on the spot, weighing up all the times he'd been scolded by his papa for entering somewhere without permission against all the times Haru laughed at him for being too timid -- when voices burst out from deeper in the house. 

"--wanna tell 'im though! Promise you'll let me, mom? Promise?" Haru was following his mother, looking only at her face as they entered the hall. Hikaru felt relief course through him, now Haru was here, and the barrier that kept him on the step was instantly shattered. But Haru's mother stood with her back to him. 

"I don't know, Haru, it might be easier if we tell Hikaru together," she said, and Hikaru's heart was in his mouth because he knew now that they hadn't seen him at the door. They hadn't seen him enter. He stood rigidly still, with his shoulders pointed and his hands flat against his sides, hoping not to be noticed. Haru's mother breezed out of the hall, into the kitchen, past where Hikaru was standing.

"But mom, I--" Haru blinked, and then he grinned at Hikaru. "Hey!" he said, and then he called, "Mom, Hikaru's here!" Haru's mother poked her head around the side of the door. 

"Oh, Hikaru! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here!" she said, and she turned to Haru, opening her mouth, but he said,

"I'M telling him!" He grabbed Hikaru by the arm and ran to the door. "C'mon let's go! Bye, mom!" he said, and as they ran out together, Hikaru could just hear Haru's mother calling to them --

"Boys, you can go to the park, but don't--" but they were gone before he could hear the end. 

Haru spread his arms out as they ran, and they were planes, Haru making the engine noise under his breath and laughing. Hikaru made engine noises too, trying hard to keep up with the times when Haru would stop suddenly, making a screech noise for brakes, testing him. Then Haru said they were skydivers, running with a whooshing noise, and they had to stop whenever Haru said "Parachutes!" Next, Hikaru decided he was a ptera… ptero… terror-dactyl, with shrieks and flapping arms that couldn't be silenced by Haru's call for parachutes. So Haru announced that he was a T-Rex, and stomped after Hikaru with three crooked finger-claws extended on each hand. Until they got to Hikaru's street, on the corner from the park. Haru straightened his back, stopping where he was out of view of the park gates.

"Hikaru! Hikaru come here a minute!" he hissed, motioning for the wayward terror-dactyl with flapping fingers. Hikaru let his arms drop at once, and skulked back towards Haru, who was standing on his tiptoes, checking that nobody was watching them. "Alright, let's walk normally now," he said, keeping hold of Hikaru's sleeve to stop him from flying off again. 

"Okay," Hikaru said, hurt, but not surprised. Big Sis was the same. 

They passed through the colourful safety bollards and stood in the shadow of the big climbing frame. Kids, some of them kids Hikaru recognised, were running about and yelping and laughing, but the park seemed quiet for some reason. Haru let go of Hikaru's sleeve and bounced up and down on the balls of his feet to get a better view of the fences beyond the jungle gym.

"Looks like the middle-schoolers are here!" he said, "Look, Hikaru, see all those kids lined up at the fence!" he pointed dead ahead of them. Hikaru looked instead at Haru's face and saw his eyes were sparkling. "There's gotta be a tennis match on! Let's check it out!" Hikaru nodded. Haru's hand was warm as it squeezed just too tight on Hikaru's fingers, and they charged off together. It hurt, Hikaru's fingertips tingled from the pressure, but he said nothing, delaying the moment when Haru would remember that he was 10 now and too old to hold hands. But Haru kept his grip even as they reached the backs of the other kids gawping along the side of the fence, and Hikaru watched Haru's mouth drop open, excitement in his smile. He gasped at something, and gripped Hikaru's hand harder, tugging at him. "You see that?" he said, and then he turned to look at Hikaru, bristling with an energy that made Hikaru excited, too, although he hadn't been watching the tennis. 

Haru's grin turned into a frown as he looked at Hikaru, and it made the back of Hikaru's neck feel hot. He watched his feet shuffling, and a hand tapped his shoe. Haru was crouching in front of him, looking up at him and smiling, holding his hands behind his back. 

"C'mon, get on! Can't see the court, can ya?" he said. Hikaru gulped. His steps were light as he got into position behind Haru, and gingerly fastened his hands about Haru's shoulders. "That's the way!" Haru said, as Hikaru carefully stepped onto Haru's hands and let them bear his weight. Hikaru's stomach jolted as he was lifted off the ground, balance shifting. They leaned sharply forwards together, Hikaru clinging tightly to Haru's shirt, as Haru got to his feet, and Hikaru closed his eyes for just a minute as their totem tower became steady. Haru was warm, and so strong, and with his eyes closed Hikaru felt like he was flying again. He would have put his arms out like plane wings, but Haru wobbled dangerously whenever he loosened his grip. "Can ya see it?" Haru said, trying not to show his strain in his voice. 

He could see it: the beat-up old court in the playground, with its red clay boxes and fading white lines, and covered in the shoe-scuff marks of the middle schoolers that used it. And the tall kid in his red-and-cream shirt, throwing himself into his swings, yelling as he connected his racquet with the ball and releasing it like a fireball back to his opponent. He was strong. Hikaru forgot the line of heads below him and stretched his arm out to grip onto the wire fence, but knocked Haru's balance in the process, and he stumbled into the kids in front of him. 

"Woah!" he said, steadying himself enough to get Hikaru onto the ground safely. The kids by the fence turned their attention away from the game, and onto Haru. 

"Ow! Oh, it's Bane!"

"The heck! Bane! You nearly crushed us!" 

"That dweeb Amane's here too!" someone said. Hikaru chewed his lip and stared at the floor. "What's the big deal, Bane? Did he cry 'til you carried him?" 

"No!" Haru said, already scowling. He hunched his shoulders and straightened his back. One of the kids stepped towards Hikaru. 

"You shouldn't try to force him to be friends with you, Amane!" He sneered. "Why don’t you just go away and play by yourself?" 

"He ain't forcing me!" Haru placed himself between them and Hikaru, reminding them who was bigger, "He's my best friend, and he can do what he likes, so back off!" 

One of the middle schoolers who had been watching the match outside the fence hurried over. "What's going on, guys?" he said, "Let's not fight, okay?" Haru pouted, shoving his hands into his pockets and kicking the dirt, but the other kid thrust a finger out at Haru.

"Bane started it! He nearly crushed us cuz he was trying to carry Amane!" 

"He couldn't see the match!" Haru looked up at the middle schooler, protesting.

"Oh!" The middle schooler crouched to meet Hikaru at eye level, "In that case, how 'bout I give you a boost? I'm sure I could lift you fine!" He smiled and put a hand out towards Hikaru. 

"No!" Haru said, pushing his way between them, "I can lift him fine!" Haru was breathing heavily, standing tense with his back straight, and bristling. Hikaru rested his fingertips on Haru's shoulders, carefully, and Haru's frame began to relax, his arms easing low at his sides. He held his breath, considering, and then he said, "C'mon, Hikaru, let's go do somethin' else. Who wants to watch a dumb tennis match, anyway!" He brushed past the group without meeting their gazes and without looking back, and Hikaru stepped quickly after him. 

"Haru-chan!" Hikaru said, breathless, "Wait, Haru-chan! Is it okay?" Haru stopped his stride suddenly and Hikaru stumbled straight into his back. They both wobbled, and then Haru laughed. 

"Watch where you're goin'!" he said, ruffling Hikaru's hair, and then, "Is what okay?" 

"The tennis match… you wanted to see, to watch it, didn't you?" Haru sighed loudly, and Hikaru gulped. 

"It's fine," Haru said, without sounding fine, "You didn't force me or anythin'!" he said quickly. "I just didn't wanna be near those kids, sayin' all that stuff, makes me mad!" There were tears stinging at Hikaru's eyes before he could figure out why. Haru looked up from the ground and saw Hikaru's face contorting. "Aw, man, don't start that!" he said, swiping Hikaru with a quick clip around the ear, "You're a man, okay, hold it in!" Hikaru swallowed hard, clenching his fists, forcing himself to calm down. "'course it makes me mad when they pick on you! But don't worry, I won't let them!" Haru was grinning, putting up his dukes, and Hikaru felt a smile flickering on his lips. 

Hikaru opened his mouth to say, thanks, Haru-chan, but it wouldn't come out. It wasn't right, it wasn't the burning he felt, almost painfully, in his heart, it wasn't gratitude, it was… He bit his lip. What was it? But he took Haru's hand and held onto it tightly, and hoped Haru would know how he felt. 

"Heh, ya big girl," Haru said, laughing, and when Hikaru looked at him with those eyes, hurt and tearful, he said, "Hey, I didn't mean it! You're a dude, don't cry on me, jeez!" 

Haru pulled Hikaru forward, still gripping his hand, running fast to the other end of the park. Hikaru's vision blurred as he ran after Haru, teardrops flying from his eyes as his feet pounded the dirt. He yelled something, too fast, or, wait, or maybe he was just laughing, because when they stopped beside the far fence to catch their breath, Hikaru laughed and hiccupped, and Haru told him to sit down until he could breathe properly. They sat down together, backs against the fence and under the trees. It was still hot, even in the shade, and the swaying pattern of tree branches beneath them was like a force field that other kids couldn't cross. Even if it was a small part of the park, this was their part, and Hikaru scanned the park with defiance. He said, in his head, about as loud as he dared, you can't come here, YOU'RE not allowed here, why don't you go away and play by yourself! He stared hard at any kid who came even remotely close to their secret base, and when they didn't approach, he was impressed by his newfound sidekick powers.

"Aw hey, check this out!" Haru said. He was looking down at the ground beside where he sat, and Hikaru had to scrabble over on his knees to get a good look. "It's a frog, I think it's dead," Haru said, and he turned his head about, before finding a fallen twig. He prodded at it. "It is!" Hikaru winced, but he hoped Haru didn't notice. "Hey, Hikaru, I guess it must've… croaked!" Haru cackled, but Hikaru chewed his lip. 

"How can it croak if it's dead?" Hikaru said. Haru took in a great gasp of air. 

"What! Don't you get it!" he said, and he cackled more. Hikaru shook his head and looked away. "It's a joke! See, because frogs go 'croak', right? And because 'croak' means 'die'?" Hikaru just stared at him. "So it croaked, because it's dead. It's a dead frog!" 

"I didn’t know that, that 'croak' means 'die'…" Hikaru thought about it. And then the joke caught up with him, and he spluttered with laughter. 

"See!" Haru said, smiling, "It's funny, right!" But Hikaru was giggling uncontrollably, crumpling to the ground and wheezing. Haru patted Hikaru's back to help him breathe. And then he frowned. And then he said, "Jeez, it's not THAT funny," but that set Hikaru off even more. Haru smacked Hikaru's arm, "you can stop laughing now," he said, but he was wrong. Hikaru was wriggling about on the floor in hysterics.

He only knew they'd approached when he felt new shadows - not the tree's shadow, but closer - casting over him, and when he squinted up at them he wished he'd stood guard all along. Hikaru stopped laughing, and furrowed his brow at them even from the ground, but his sidekick powers had faded away, or maybe they had some kind of barrier that meant it didn't work on them, because they just covered their smirks with their hands and muttered at each other. 

"Hey," Haru said, friendly as ever, "Need somethin'?" 

"Hi, Bane-kun," one of them said, and they both giggled in a way that made Hikaru feel uneasy. The air felt weird, and somehow Hikaru knew that Haru felt uneasy, too. Hikaru sat up and wiped the dust off his shirt. "Hi, Amane-kun," she said, but added, "We didn't come to see YOU." She made sure Hikaru saw her disgusted expression, and her friend pretended to whisper,

"Eww, there's dirt all over him! He's like a pig!" And they laughed even harder. Hikaru could feel Haru shifting, out of his view, squaring his shoulders again, but he didn't say anything. The two girls hissed with laughter and whispers, and Hikaru drew his shoes together, using his hands to align the soles of his shoes flat against each other, pretending not to be there. The girls pretended he wasn't there, either. 

"Bane-kun, do you wanna be my boyfriend?" One of them said, and her friend pushed her sharply. 

"Hey, no fair! He wants to be my boyfriend!" Hikaru raised his face and watched them with horror. He turned to Haru, and they caught each other's look of terror. 

"I asked him first! YOU'LL have to be Amane-kun's girlfriend!" She shoved her friend so hard, the girl tripped over Hikaru's foot and she fell onto him. "Ooh, you loooove him!" She squealed, while her friend gave a disgusted shriek. Hikaru shuffled backwards on his butt, backing himself towards Haru. 

"Eww, get off me!" The girl scrambled to her feet, dusting her clothes and shaking her hands as if they were covered in slime. Hikaru bit his lip hard. Girls were the worst, the worst, and he was a dude, not a girl. He held his breath. Only girls cry, but his eyes hurt. He focused on a smudge of dirt on his shoe and listened. 

"Bane-kun, if you'll be my boyfriend, I'll let you kiss me!" 

"No! Be my boyfriend! Then you can kiss me!" 

"Shut up! Why don't you go back to kissing Amane-kun! Mwah mwah mwah!" 

"I never kissed him! I never! Bane-kun, I never!" 

Hikaru frowned his hardest, but the dirt on his shoe flickered and pooled beneath the water over his eyes. He felt Haru scoop something up from the ground just behind them. 

"Ya wanna kiss somethin' so bad? Why dontcha kiss this!" He said, throwing something at them with a triumphant cackle. There was a little thud, a noise of confusion, and then a scream. Hikaru jumped, blinking, knocking the tears out of his eyes just in time to see the two girls running away from them. "Deserved!" Haru said, smirking at Hikaru. He stood up and nudged the dead frog with his foot, "Almost feel sorry for it," he said. 

Haru-chan held out his hand. Hikaru wiped his face with the back of his wrist, and then took it. Haru-chan led him out of the park without saying anything about Hikaru's red, sniffling face. Hikaru watched his feet as they crossed the little road, and then climbed down the sandy steps to the beach. There seemed to be a shadow over everything, and the sea breeze against his legs made him shiver, but Haru-chan chatted brightly, talking about how hermit crabs sometimes hide in drinks cans, and that if you dig deep enough in the sand, you find water. Clouds were crowding over the sea, but they made the shaft of sunlight that broke through them look brighter, a strange pretty yellow, and it hit Haru-chan's laughing face and made his eyes glow. 

"C'mon, let's look for some!" Haru said, with an encouraging tug to Hikaru's arm. 

"L-look for what?" Hikaru said, his voice juddering as Haru shook him. They laughed and Haru tried it again, Hikaru letting out a long aaaah sound so they could hear the skips in it. 

"Let's look for fossils!" Haru said, putting them back on their track, "you find 'em on beaches, too, there might even be a T-rex or a tera… tara…" he pursed his lips, "them ones, that fly!" 

"Like this!" Hikaru said, stretching out his hands on either side of him again, in place of wings, and screeching. He took off across the beach, followed closely by the stomps of a T-rex. 

The beach was empty, apart from the two rampaging dinosaurs, and no one for Haru-chan to look grown-up for. The wind whipped up the sand and it stung against Hikaru's bare legs and arms. His shoes were full of sand from running, and his throat was dry and rasping, but he didn't want to stop the game. Hikaru flew out ahead of Haru, up towards a beach hut that had its shutters down, and ducked around the side, hiding. There was a little strip of sand just behind the hut before the sloping of the cliff wall took over, and Hikaru tiptoed carefully through the discarded plastic bags and cans that lay in its shade. His stomach felt fuzzy when he tried to catch his breath as quietly as possible, and worse when he heard Haru's trainers scattering the sand in front of the hut. Footsteps all up one side, then nothing but the fizz of the sea, and then footsteps getting further away, and a laugh forced its way up from Hikaru's stomach and burst out of his lips, and Haru yelled, "AHA!" and ran over. 

Hikaru made a break for it, dodging and weaving, trying to slip by Haru's outstretched arms. Haru pushed back hard with one foot, almost diving into Hikaru's path and catching him in a headlock that didn't really hurt. They giggled and Hikaru hiccupped as he tried to catch his breath, and the rumble of the clouds above them swallowed up their little voices. Haru released his grip and they blinked at each other. The beach darkened, and the clouds tore open and battered the boys with a stinging rain. They put their hands up over their faces, but the wind lashed sand and water up at them, and the waves churned and frothed, and Hikaru saw the sea for the first time like a big hungry monster, drooling at them. Haru yelled something, but it was lost in the gale, so he shook Hikaru's shoulder and pointed to the old, rickety beach hut. 

With a quick nod to one another, they each took one of the rectangular cut-out handles in the battered shutters and desperately tried to heave them upwards. Hikaru flung his shoulder into it, pushing back with his feet, but they sank into the gloopy, wet sand, and sea foam lapped at his shoeprints, making them vanish. Haru yelled, "After 3!!" and they counted up together, gritting their teeth against the strain and against the weather. The shutter groaned, and they ducked under it and into the dank little hut. It was dark, and Hikaru shivered, standing still and blinking fast. He jumped when Haru clapped his shoulder and laughed, "It's okay, there's nothin' in here!" 

Hikaru gripped the back of Haru's shirt and followed him inside, careful where to put his feet. There was a loud metallic ringing as Haru sent an old drinks can rolling into the back of the hut, and the two of them tensed up for a moment, but Haru quickly laughed it off. An old piece of plank at the side of the hut had been chipped away, and a tiny, squarish beam of light shone through it onto the floor. Haru guided them towards it, patting down the wall with his fingertips and scraping the boards beneath his feet with his shoe. 

"Looks okay, let's just sit here for a while, okay?" he said, lowering himself onto the floor, and Hikaru copied him, sitting next to him with his arms crossed over his knees. Haru tilted his head backwards and looked up at the hole in the wall, "geez, it's a real storm… guess we might be stuck here for a while." The beats of the rain on the tin roof above filled up the silence while Hikaru's eyes adjusted to the dark, and Haru said, thoughtfully, "At least we're together in here. Y'know, we're not separated." 

Hikaru tried to imagine how he might've been separated from Haru-chan. Maybe if the sea had slurped him up into its foaming mouth… he shuddered hard and shook his head. 

"Are ya cold? You're soaking!" Haru said, the warmth of his fingers seeping through the shoulder of Hikaru's shirt. "C'mere, budge over," Haru squashed his shoulder up against Hikaru's, and Hikaru could feel the extra damp of Haru's rain-soaked clothes against his side. Haru-chan was warm. 

"Haru-chan?" Hikaru waited a few seconds, and Haru hummed at him to continue, "t-thanks… for helping me at the playground…" Hikaru tasted the words as he spoke them, but they seemed off. His heart shivered with an anxiety he couldn't understand, and he frowned down at his shirt, deeper in colour now it was wet. 

Haru clicked his tongue, "Those kids by the court were just jealous!" he said with a savage snap of his teeth. Hikaru raised his face, tilting his head to one side as he looked at Haru. 

"I meant those girls," he said, shivering hard enough to make his teeth chatter. 

"Oh!" Haru straightened his back and stared at the opposite wall ahead of them, "Girls, right, who needs 'em? Y'know--" he turned back towards Hikaru quickly, "whenever there are girls with us, playin' out? My dad always goes, is that your girlfriend, Haru? And I tell 'im, girls are gross!" Hikaru poked his tongue out and winced in agreement, "but then my dad, then he says, you won't say that when you're older!" Haru-chan was frowning at Hikaru, frowning but with a puzzled smile, and he shrugged out his arms. "Man, I don't get it!" 

Hikaru could only shake his head. He couldn't even imagine what it'd be like to be 10, let alone being old enough to think girls were actually nice. "I don't like girls," he said, mentally excluding his Mama, but, on consideration, mentally including Big Sis. Haru was looking at him, frowning still, with his mouth open a little bit like he had something to say, but then his eyes widened suddenly. 

"Oh! That's right! I have to tell you!" Haru was grinning now, and Hikaru just cocked his head to one side, listening politely, "My mom told me! I'm gonna have a baby brother or sister! Isn't that cool?" His fists were all balled up with excitement. 

Hikaru gasped, "which?" and Haru blinked at him, "a brother or a sister?" A few moments passed between them. "Having a sister isn't so great, don't get one of those," he said, with a grave shake of his little head, the rain water flying off the curls of his hair as he moved. 

"I don't know if it's a brother or a sister," Haru said, thoughtfully, "but I want it to be a little brother, too! Then he could come to the playground with us, and find fossils with us! Wouldn't that be awesome!" 

Hikaru looked down at his bare knees, with red blotches coming up over them from the rawness of the cold and wet. "I guess," he said, through the unease in his tummy. 

"Oh no, you're not… jealous… are you?" Haru said. Hikaru crossed his arms stiffly and shook his head, cheeks burning hot. "My mom said that, she said she wanted to tell you because she didn't want you to be jealous." Hikaru frowned and pursed out his lips and cursed Haru-chan's mom for getting a brother or sister for Haru-chan. "But, I don't get it."

It sounded like the rain was getting lighter overhead. Haru tilted his head to the side now, smiling softly at Hikaru, and he pushed Hikaru's wet fringe off his face and swept it back over his ear. His fingertips were warm on Hikaru's face, and Hikaru thought that even Haru-chan's smile made him feel warmer, though his tummy felt strange and small and cold. 

"She said, Hikaru might be jealous, because he's like your little brother, but I think that's weird," Haru drew his hand away, and drew himself away, almost like he wanted to look Hikaru over from a distance. He still had a crease between his eyebrows, and he watched Hikaru quietly for a few moments. Hikaru felt his frustration drain from him as he watched Haru, watching him. Instead of that there was heat, just a strange little heat inside him, and he decided one day he would be the one to protect Haru-chan. Hikaru clenched his fists so hard he felt his nails dig into his palm, yes, he would protect Haru-chan, and with the decision came a little thrill of fear up his spine, and the feeling that he had to be grown-up.

Haru breathed out a sigh and on the back of it he said, "Y'know, I don't really see you like you're my little brother? It's more… like..." He had his eyes narrowed, and his lips were slightly open, like he was on the verge of figuring out what it was more like. But he didn't. He laughed so loud the little wooden hut rang with it and it made Hikaru jump. "Err, so don't be jealous, okay?" Haru scratched the back of his head. Hikaru gave a slight nod, having no better reply, and Haru bent forward towards him, frowning harder, and Hikaru frowned back in sympathy, like they both felt the same distress at this conversation running its course. 

"Um, those girls… they were awful," Hikaru said, almost like he wanted to start the conversation over again from the start, but this time have them both know what they really wanted to say. But even as Haru agreed that the girls were awful, the loop of Hikaru's thinking stayed looped. He looked down at his knees. That important gap in his thinking, that missing snippet of conversation, throbbed at Hikaru's temples as he tried to will it into being -- like that barrier he'd wanted to keep others away from him and Haru-chan! Hikaru grit his teeth, his self of a few hours earlier made his stomach squirm, but he felt the lack of barrier just as keenly even so. 

And he was startled when Haru muttered, "…not wantin' to kiss you, they're so stupid…" and Hikaru realised Haru was looking down at the floor, too. He wasn't watching when a flicker of panic passed over Hikaru's face as he pictured those girls and their slimy puckered lips and their mwah mwah mwahs. He shuddered, and the movement got Haru to look up at him. "What!!" he said, a flush falling over him, even in the shade, "I hate girls, okay, why're we even talkin' about 'em!" 

Hikaru apologised, and even years later, in half-conscious moments he felt himself muttering the same apology and trying to will his 9-year-old self not to let that conversation drop. And Davide -- since Bane-san started to call him that in middle-school -- would lie in his bed in the dark, and his ears still heard the high words of 10-year-old Bane-san's low mutter, not wantin' to kiss you, they're so stupid, Davide remembered the stressing of the words, and the pitch, and the resentment like they still echoed out of that rickety beach hut, and reached him in the blue dark of his room at night. And he tried to hear Bane-san say, who wouldn't want to kiss you?, but his brain wouldn't let him. Girls are stupid, he heard, and even, they have no right to pick on you, but that was all. 

"Good!" Haru said, crossing his arms and pushing his back against the wall of the beach hut, and after a few beats of rain above them hit and passed, his shoulders eased, and he shifted a bit, side to side, "well, you don't gotta apologise for them!" Somehow he missed the snapping anger in his voice until after he'd finished speaking, and he sighed and punched Hikaru's shoulder. "Just don't do it again!" 

When they stopped speaking then, it felt as heavy as the storm outside sounded against the metal roof. Haru-chan sighed a lot, and Hikaru wanted to help him not-sigh, but the puzzle of how to help seemed only to make the foggy feeling in his temples spread, and he sighed a little bit himself. I understand you, that's what Davide in his bedroom and in his hindsight thought he should say, but Hikaru couldn't grasp it. So instead he said, "Haru-chan? Tell me about fossils again?" 

Haru looked up at him and blinked. "Oh, right! I forgot, we were gonna look for some, right?" His grin was fighting its way back through the head-fog Haru had been wearing. And so he said they were cool like dinosaur bones, even dinosaur poop -- Hikaru snickered at this and Haru said, "I know, right!" -- and that people dig them up from the ground, especially on the beach. Why the beach, Hikaru would say, and Haru shrugged and told him, dinosaurs loved the beach, I mean, because who DOESN'T? And somewhere in all this the wind stopped making the boards creak, and the rain above tapped at the roof, telling them to come outside, and when Haru noticed it he said, "Hey, I think we can probably get home okay now--" and he sprang to his feet. Haru dusted off his shorts and then held his hand out for Hikaru.

Outside, the wind was still strong enough to send a cold ripple up Hikaru's damp clothes, and he crossed his free arm over himself and rubbed at his shirtsleeve. The tide was in, but it was lapping its way out again; the boys looked at each other and considered before stepping off the little veranda of the beach hut, and letting their shoes fill up with the sting of cold sea. They sloshed their way back towards the familiar beach they knew, where there was always sand that the sea couldn't swallow, and there by the beach steps was a distant figure. It seemed to stir when it saw them, tips of long dark hair whipping up behind the head, and she -- as they got closer -- jumped up and down and waved and yelled something that the wind ate. Soon enough more figures, three more, cuddled up in great big raincoats, came rushing down the steps towards them. 

"Mom," Haru said, with some quiet surprise, and then he yelled, "Mom!!" as she rushed closer, grabbing him by the face, and looking him over, then pausing to do the same for Hikaru. 

"Oh my God, what did I say? What did I say to you? What did I tell you NOT to do, but here you are anyway!" Haru's face was blank and puzzled, but Hikaru's view of it was obscured when it was lost in the billowing creases of her raincoat. The other three pulled up towards them, first Haru's dad, followed a little shortly by Big Sis and Mama, and Hikaru swallowed hard as Big Sis' look of terror faded gradually into a look of annoyance. 

"Squirt!! We've been looking all over, gosh, look at you!" she said, wrinkling her nose at his sand-muddied clothes. Mama stopped a few paces behind, blinking and cupping her hands over her mouth as she saw him, before flinging out her arms towards him and scooping him up in them. 

"Oh, sweet boy, you are safe, here you are, safe!" she muttered in his ear, using her Japanese at first and sweeping into French she said, "Don't do that to me again, okay? I nearly had a heart attack!" Hikaru's cheeks were being kissed, so he turned resolutely to the side, towards Haru, and caught him puffing out his cheeks with resentment. Haru was looking anywhere away from his dad's pointing finger. 

"You little punk!! When yer Ma tells you somethin', ya listen, okay? Understood? We thought you'd been swept out to sea or somethin'!" There was a pause, "Kid! Do ya hear me!" Haru groaned. "Hey, don't gimme that! What if somethin' had happened to Hikaru, huh?" 

Mama straightened up and took a gentle step towards Haru's dad. She placed her little hand on the arm of his pointing finger, "nothing is hurt!" she said, "Haru-chan had made sure, didn't you?" she smiled down at Haru. Haru frowned and blinked like tears were threatening in his eyes, and he puffed out his chest and nodded. "Thank you, Haru-chan," Mama said, reaching over to ruffle his hair. 

"C'mon, squirt," Big Sis said, reaching her arm around Hikaru's back and shoving him forward, "let's get you cleaned up before Papa comes home!" 

There were snatches of Haru's mom's voice on the breeze, and Haru's dad said, "Heeeyy, now, yes we are! Everything's fine!" Big Sis stopped and looked over at them; Hikaru turned and watched, too, watched Haru's dad wrapping his arms around his wife and stroking her back.

"Mom, don't cry!" Haru said, "I'm sorry, mom, so please don't cry!" 

"Hey, it ain't you," Haru's dad said, looking over at him, and Mama stepped closer to them, too, to put her hand on the shoulder of Haru's mom. Mama looked at Haru's dad and he gave her a sheepish grin, "Yeah, bit of a weird time to be tellin' ya but… Hana's pregnant!" 

"Goodness!" and Mama added, "Oh my word, that's the most wonderful news!" in French before she remembered herself, "Congratulations!" she said to them, so they would understand. But Haru's mom sniffed loudly, and Mama frowned, "What is this problem? You are happy? No?" 

The three children shifted in the sand, all of them looking to the adults for a piece of something they could understand -- even Big Sis was frowning, looking to the beach steps that would lead them home, then back to the huddled adults again, clenching her fists. Hikaru slipped his hand into her palm, and neither of them said anything about it. 

"You will be at my house, I will make you chocolate," Mama said, brightly, and Haru's parents frowned at her. 

"Cocoa! Drinking chocolate!" Big Sis added quickly, and Mama nodded at her with appreciation. 

"Please do," Mama said, holding her arm out towards all the Kurobanes, until they had to shrug and step forward, and wipe their eyes, and say thank you.


End file.
